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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25769467">To the Fools</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/patofbutter306/pseuds/patofbutter306'>patofbutter306</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>To the Fools [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Fluff, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:33:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,903</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25769467</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/patofbutter306/pseuds/patofbutter306</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hubert is spreading himself too thin.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>To the Fools [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1871548</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>67</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>To the Fools</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Warning for brief - but not graphic or anything - mentions of nail-biting (Hubert), weight loss (Ferdinand).</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You’re doing it again, darling.”</p>
<p>Hubert jolts up from his desk, hand skidding away from his mouth and eyes darting to his office doorway. Ferdinand leans with his hand raised as if to knock, and the concerned look in his eyes has Hubert huffing a sigh as he glances down at his fingernails and tucks them away into a fist.</p>
<p>There’s a dull ache coming from his right ring fingertip and he knows that if he were to unclench his hand, it would come away with a trace of red.</p>
<p>“I wish you wouldn’t harm yourself so, dear.” Ferdinand approaches the desk and comes around behind Hubert to quietly tuck his hands against his chest, soft honey hair tickling his ear and warm breath on his neck as he mumbles “you know it hurts me to see you in pain.”</p>
<p>Hubert allows himself a moment to be surrounded by Ferdinand, feel his lips moving against his skin and carrying no ill-intent, no judgement, only concern and love. A habit, a weakness developed from his sometimes compulsive need to run himself ragged directing affairs of the revitalized Empire. The fingers that were already scarred from black magic experiments and years of work with dangerous chemicals now ravaged by his own teeth mindlessly. When things were right, when there were no petitions, no complaints, no tedious summits or events to posture the castle for, no fools placed in charge of critical infrastructure, no corrupt scum snivelling around discovering new ways to leverage power, that’s when he’d finally be able to-</p>
<p>“Hubert.”</p>
<p>He feels Ferdinand slide away from him to instead lean against the desk and hold his gaze.</p>
<p>“I... have been busy.” He manages, finally pulling away from his thoughts and glancing down briefly at a stack of supply orders partially blocked by his husband’s hip before returning to Ferdinand’s slightly amused face.</p>
<p>“Busy, hm?”</p>
<p>“Busy, yes.”</p>
<p>“And what, pray tell, is the pressing matter keeping you from our lovely bed this evening?”</p>
<p>He darts forward to shuffle the papers away hastily “I - that is, that is classified beyond your-“</p>
<p>“Hubert, darling, are these mere order confirmations?” Ferdinand is faster, and reaches back to tuck a lock of gold behind his ear as he effortlessly nudges Hubert out of the way with his rear to more closely examine the stack of paper.</p>
<p>“Just leave them, leave them, I need to-“</p>
<p>“-darling, does the Minister of the Imperial Household truly need to spend evenings pouring over such tedious tasks? Shouldn’t these fall into the hands of some minor accountant for approval?”</p>
<p>Hubert falls back into his seat, giving up grasping to hide the forms that some part of him knows are as completely devoid of importance as Ferdinand implies. He still frowns stubbornly and replies “if I had left them in the hands of that absolute imbecile Berkeley and his department, there would have been-“</p>
<p>“-absolute chaos, of course. A missed order of...” he trails a finger down the page, searching for “Ah. Sand to be bagged and stocked along the river, anticipating the rainy season that is a mere eight months away.” He finishes the declaration with an edge of sarcasm.</p>
<p>“I’ve found three errors already in the invoices, and that’s only from Enbarr’s supplies.”</p>
<p>“Could you not simply have brought this matter to Lord Berkeley’s attention, if there have been inconsistencies? Let him put in the extra evenings to keep the affairs of his department in line?”</p>
<p>Hubert’s stubborn look fades for only a moment before returning with renewed persistence. “As if I could trust the fool to rectify such glaring errors. No, it must be supervised by someone with an appreciation for the unglamorous details that keep a nation running,” he grumbles.</p>
<p>The mirth held in Ferdinand’s eyes has slowly faded to exasperation. “Hubert von Vestra, these last months I have observed you micromanaging the ministries of Finance, Military, Agriculture, and Trade, inserting yourself into dozens of affairs leagues beneath your station. All the while working late into the night and on weekends, during mealtimes, missing out on so much, not to mention labouring so intensively that you’ve begun to take out your stress so harshly on your poor, lovely hands.”</p>
<p>Hubert is silent as Ferdinand rests one hand on his hip and the other against his forehead, sighing as if searching for the right words.</p>
<p>“I must ask you, because I am a fool who will waste away from the...from the worry and the homesickness if I leave it unsaid and things continue as they are, if you have...grown bored of me.”</p>
<p>The last words Ferdinand seems to release like a breath he had been holding for some time. His hands shake slightly as he reaches for Hubert's and takes them to rest with his own on his thighs, sliding his fingers over Hubert’s knuckles and all the while carefully avoiding Hubert’s eyes and blinking quickly to wick away oncoming tears.</p>
<p>Hubert’s heart drops into his stomach and the colour rushes from his face in shock, the pain in his hands suddenly forgotten and numbed.</p>
<p>“I - I, Ferdinand, I don’t - “</p>
<p>“What am I to assume, Hubert? If my love would rather, would…“ Ferdinand stutters wetly, growing more distressed, “these are nothing, these - and you, here, instead, I-I just I -“</p>
<p>Hubert finally finds his tongue, and his hands, and his words, and he squeezes Ferdinand’s hands in his tightly as he stands and then releases them to tug his husband in to hold Ferdinand hard against his chest, saying urgently “my love, my dearest, m-my only, Ferdinand, please. Do not cry, please.”</p>
<p>Ferdinand is shaking slightly against his chest, having released so much of his deepest fear at once, and Hubert is desperate to make this better, to heal the hurt he feels in every tense muscle of Ferdinand’s back as he tightly grips him there. He realizes with an added pang in his chest that his lover feels too thin, as if he has been missing meals in his worry. He imagines Ferdinand hungry, but too deep in despair over Hubert to satisfy his urges, and feels as if he could sink into the floor.</p>
<p>He brings a hand to the back of Ferdinand’s head, cradling him there and soothing desperately over his beloved’s shoulder “Ferdinand, my love, you are - you are the centre of my world, of my heart, every moment away from you is...and I-I cannot believe I have treated you so poorly in my desire to see duties carried out, to see you in such pain, it is...oh, Goddess." He presses his face into Ferdinand's hair, inhales to give himself the strength to continue. Ferdinand is silent, allowing himself to be held, his breath stuttering against Hubert's shoulder and his hands digging hard into the back of Hubert's vest.</p>
<p>"I love you, darling, I love you so much - you could never bore me, I could never grow tired of - I could never - you are everything to me.” He finishes simply, as he has begun to stumble and his tongue feels thick and clumsy, choking his throat and bringing tears to his eyes as well. When Ferdinand tries to pull away slightly, Hubert finds himself like a vice around him, his grip unrelenting as if suddenly terrified it will be his last time feeling Ferdinand against him. When Ferdinand relents and allows himself to be held again for a few moments, he comes back to himself and feels his hold relax enough for Ferdinand to pull back and speak softly.</p>
<p>“Then why, Hubert? Why are you here?” Ferdinand regains a bit of his composure at Hubert’s ardent refutation, hands still clutching at him but pulled away enough to search his eyes. “We are at peace, the Empire is established, the people are happy, the colonies secure, and yet you toil here night after night while I wait for you, always waiting, always...” he trails off, and Hubert, Hubert’s mind is flying, thinking of all the times he has piled his desk high with overseeing the duties of others, all the times he has noticed imperfections in work meant to advance his Lady’s rule and needed, needed to step in, to correct things himself, to do his duty by carrying the weight of others who could never understand the importance of every detail.</p>
<p>And then he thinks only of Ferdinand. Of his love who he misses all the time, who is now staring into his eyes as if he is waiting for his world to shatter.</p>
<p>“I fear that... I fear that you are right, my dear Ferdinand. Not that part, not about us, no - “ he stumbles as Ferdinand’s eyes go wide and panicked, quick to reassure him, “ - I mean that I fear I have lost myself to matters that are beyond my duties to Her Majesty, and have spread myself too thin in the process. You are right, you are absolutely right, these mean...” he nods his head in the direction of the desk, the papers, “nothing. This should all be nothing to me, I... need to be better at letting others handle what was for so long solely my responsibility.”</p>
<p>Ferdinand eyes soften, and with a sigh of “Oh, darling, you...” he falls back into Hubert’s arms again and holds him close, breathing against his neck and laying a gentle kiss there. “You had me so worried, you absolute bastard” he mumbles in a hushed tone, no heat behind his words, only a touch of exhaustion.</p>
<p>“I will - I will change. I can be better. Allow others to carry their own weight. You’re right, I can’t do everyone’s work for them, it’s senseless, I don’t know what I’ve been doing, I just wanted to... I just wanted...everything to be perfect.”</p>
<p>“As you always have.” Ferdinand leans back to meet his eyes again, one hand coming up to brush his hair from his eyes and caress his cheek gently. “But things are allowed to be imperfect, love. You cannot burn through the life you carved for yourself down to the last of its wick in a quest to achieve the impossible.</p>
<p>You can only do your best, and that means taking care of yourself, too. Letting me take care of you.” He lifts Hubert’s hand in his own, examining his ragged cuticles with a soft look in his eye before whispering a simple faith spell to tidy the couple areas that look red and sore. “Because you are mine, and I need to protect you and hold you and see you, darling. Often, if at all possible.” Amusement has returned to Ferdinand’s face with none of the tension it held before, and Hubert laughs softly as well.</p>
<p>Ferdinand finally leans in to tenderly brush their lips together, and Hubert lowers his hands around Ferdinand’s waist as he accepts and then deepens the kiss. They stand like that together for what seems like hours and seconds at once, no heat in their touch, only safety and warmth and the others’ breath comforting them.</p>
<p>When they pull away, Hubert holds Ferdinand close still, resting their foreheads together, noses rubbing.</p>
<p>“I love you, Ferdinand. More than I’ve loved anything else ever before.”</p>
<p>“And I love you, Hubert. Now leave this business to the fools and wander off with me into the night.”</p>
<p>Ferdinand tugs Hubert by his hands, leading him back through dark hallways to their waiting bed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! I'm on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/patofbutter306">@patofbutter306</a> with 0 followers and 100,000 feelings about Ferdibert and other Fe3H ships. :) Comments appreciated, this is my first go at writing here!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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